24 Photos from My Safari to Kruger National Park

"After long dreaming, I finally visited Kruger National Park, a vast game reserve of 19,485 square kilometers that shares borders with Mozambique and Zimbabwe, was first protected in 1898 and became South Africa’s first national park in 1926, and receives over 1.6 million visitors a year. I spent three days there with Intrepid Travel and it was everything I hoped: animals to my left, right, and in front of me — lions (including males and a lioness on the hunt), elephants playing on riverbanks and in the mud, cheetahs, leopards, huge herds of zebra (upwards of 35,000 in the park), nyala, giraffes (around 7,000–10,000 in Kruger), Cape buffalo, impala, Southern yellow-billed hornbills, grey-headed kingfishers, bush babies (galagos), and a constant, hopeful search for honey badgers. Sunrises and sunsets were brilliantly red and the night skies were packed with stars and the Milky Way; during night safaris we saw many lions but I disliked how they shine lights on them. Having a guide made the experience much richer — they have eagle eyes, explain the ecosystem and park history, discuss poaching and how it’s being combatted, and offer informed opinions on managing tourism; for the best sightings visit at the end of the dry season (August–November) when animals concentrate around fewer watering holes." - Matthew Kepnes